Chisels

[cliffp]

I know there have been many threads about the choice of chisels and I have read them all I think but I am still undecided on what to buy. I am interested in the idea of trying M and T and dovetail joints just for the fun of it (for me woodworking is only for enjoyment anyway) and also just having a reasonable set of chisels for general use. I have some very cheap draper chisels that cost £15 from a cheap big store. I am reluctant to invest much effort in getting these into a useable state (I have the relevant sharpening equipment) but would prefer to buy a set of decent or half decent chisels on the basis that I am more likely to get into using them if they are a pleasure to use (this principle seems to have worked with planes when I bought a couple of LN to replace an old poor condition Stanley).

I am prepared to consider buying something as expensive as a set of LN bench chisels but would also like to consider cheaper, particularly as many people regard some cheaper chisels as excellent value and more than up to the job. There seem to be a number of cheaper brands such as Narex, Two Cherries (otherwise known as Kirschen I understand) or Ashley Iles. There seem to be different camps of people preferring the Narex over the Two Cherries and vice versa. I don't know to what extent this is personal preference or people just trying the one brand and liking it. Many people very much like the Ashley Iles and regard these as a definite cut (sorry about the Freudian slip!) above Narex and Two Cherries. Others don't like the AI and I wonder if they are commenting on the latest Mk2 version (I don't know when this came out). Then there are the Japanese chisels such as these from Axminster:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/ice-bear-japanese-oire-nomi-chisel-set-prod820165/

If anyone would like to offer any advice it would be much appreciated.

 

[jmbfestool]

I think Dean Social has one of those Japanese Chisels.  im sure he will answer what he thinks later.

I have Harold & Saxon chisels!  Although they are very nice chisels im not really rating them at the moment to be honest.  I find them far to brittle!  Im pretty sure I have had the edge break on me just chiseling Oak.  They are hard so when I get a chip it takes a while to get it out! 

I have a chip in every one of them Harold & Saxons soooo...  unless im being to rough with them but I was under the impression they are for contractors site use!  My Marples are a much softer metal but I have only ever chipped my Marples when I have dropped them or hit a nail or screw never just chiseling wood. 

So when it comes to sharpening even though the Harold & Saxons hold the edge longer but cus of the chips it takes longer to get them back I much prefer sharpening my Marples more regularly to keep a good edge.

My mate has some Two Cherries  chisels says he really likes them nice chisels.

I would avoid HARD chisels I think the risk of chips are higher and they take so long to get out!  Its better having a medium hardness chisel so you reduce the chances of chipping but still have a good blade retention to reduce the amount of sharpening required.

I believe those Japanese ones are very hard. 

Dont get me wrong im looking at it from site use!  Maybe workshop use a harder metal chisel will be fine on clean wood with alot less risk of chipping the blade edge.

JMB

 

[jmbfestool]

Veritas brought out this metal which apparently best of both worlds  easy sharpening but still has good blade retention

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=69847&cat=1,41504

 

[mouppe]

Veritas brought out this metal which apparently best of both worlds  easy sharpening but still has good blade retention

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=69847&cat=1,41504

That's what I'd go for next time. I'd get a set of Imperial bench chisels and a 1/4" or 3/8" mortise chisel. I have the Ashley Iles chisel set and I'm not that keen on them. I find I am forever sharpening them, and not just honing but all the way back to the primary bevel. For the chisels narrower than 1/2" I even changed the primary bevel to 30 degrees from 25 degrees to help make the edge more robust but to little avail. I have two Lie Nielsen chisels which are excellent in comparison.

I'd love to get a different set one day but it's not a priority so I live with the Ashley iles.

 

[cliffp]

Thanks for your suggestions/feedback Brett and also Richard - it was your comment on an earlier thread that made me think twice about the Ashley Iles. The PM-V11 are $360 (Canadian) which is around £230. After postage and import duties I guess that would be around £300. I have been offered 7.5% discount off the LN chisel set (if I buy some other stuff as well) so I may consider that as well. Yet another option is to try and get my wife to bring something back from San Francisco next week (she is there for a week) but she might clobbered for import duties and even worse, would have to know what they cost  [scared].

 

[Deansocial]

I like my jap chisel. The beauty of it is the it is both hard and soft metal so easy to sharpen if it does chip. I have only chipped mine because i dropped it on tarmac

 

[jmbfestool]

Thanks for your suggestions/feedback Brett and also Richard - it was your comment on an earlier thread that made me think twice about the Ashley Iles. The PM-V11 are $360 (Canadian) which is around £230. After postage and import duties I guess that would be around £300. I have been offered 7.5% discount off the LN chisel set (if I buy some other stuff as well) so I may consider that as well. Yet another option is to try and get my wife to bring something back from San Francisco next week (she is there for a week) but she might clobbered for import duties and even worse, would have to know what they cost  [scared].

U can get away with the import duty just say they are second hand and you where given them.  Just take them out of the packages etc make them look a little used or something.

Or

Buy them in the UK
http://www.axminster.co.uk/veritas-veritas-pm-v11-bench-chisels-prod887049/

 

[cliffp]

I think it would be a lot cheaper to buy them from Veritas in Canada than Axminster (and they don't have half of them in stock). I am very tempted. I think it is between these and the LN set for £209 (including discount). 

 

[cliffp]

I've done a bit of research and chisels attract duty as well as vat (I think it is 3.5%) so if the postage cost was £30 (a guess) then the total cost would be £335 which to me seems excessive compared to £209 for the LN set.

 

[JayStPeter]

I have the LNs, they are great.  Don't think you'd be dissapointed in them.

 

[tiralie]

I have LN's, and like them. They are beautiful chisels, and turned up and sharp when you receive them but I do find them a bit "light" in my hands.

If you are like me and weight and feel are important, I would suggest you actually pick up a chisel and try it before you buy a set.

For every day bench work I still prefer my cheapo yellow handle Marples. The steel is a bit soft but I really like the weight and I find them great for almost every task except dovetails.

Tim

 

[cliffp]

Tim, thanks for that. What would you recommend for dovetails? (speciality ones or ones that just have a thinner blade?)

 

[mouppe]

Tim, thanks for that. What would you recommend for dovetails? (speciality ones or ones that just have a thinner blade?)

I use regular chisels for dovetails but I do have a 1/8" LN chisel to get into the corners.

 

[tiralie]

Tim, thanks for that. What would you recommend for dovetails? (speciality ones or ones that just have a thinner blade?)

I use regular chisels for dovetails but I do have a 1/8" LN chisel to get into the corners.

Agreed! For me the weight of the LN are perfect for a heavy handed SOB like me!
Tim

 

[farms100]

I have a very mixed set of chisels.

LN are fantastic, a bit short in the usable steel for my taste, has a  big thick blade.
pfeil also very good, thinner blade gets really sharp good edge retention. (metric)

old set of marples softer than the above but sharpen up really fast.

ashley iles I have 2 inch chisel that was factory fresh. despite grinding and sharpening at least 5  times the edge crumbles like crazy.

I tried some of the woodriver a few years back and those are pretty good for a first set of chisels.

I'd like to try the new lee valley ones but festool seems to be sinking into my brain.

Bottom line is your going to use the chisel that fits into your hand well. 

 

[woodguy7]

I have a full set of 2 Cherries, Lie Nielson & a set of 4 Japanese chisels.  I rarely use the Japanese, the Lie Nielsons only come out when doing furniture or something nice but my 2 Cherries are the ones I use all the time. Love them.

This is only workshop use though, on site I use a mix of Marple's blue chip & Stanley's. I will probably get a set of the new Veritas ones at some point as well.

Doing more dovetailing then get the Lie Nielson, doing more M&T then get the 2 Cherries.

That's my opinion.

 

[TinyTiger]

I have used the older Marples and the newer Marples/Irwin, and they were both nice but really soft steel and dulled quickly.  I tried the Narex, but they had handles that were so light the chisels felt strange and off-balance.  I was never comfortable with them.  I used the Ashley Isles, and they were pretty soft too.  I even had a set of Craftsmans quite a few years back.  I finally got sick of sharpening all of the bargain-priced chisels after very little use (and light use at that).

Just my 2 cents, but I highly recommend the Lie Nielsens if you can swing them.  I got rid of all the others and got a set of the L-Ns.  As a side benefit, I haven't had to sharpen half as much!

Good luck with whatever you decide on!

 

[cliffp]

Thanks for all the latest replies, you are all helping me a lot in my decision making. I sharpened up a blue handled stanley (6 years old vintage) and it dulled very quickly when I used it to cut a mortise. After this experience I don't want a soft chisel. On the other hand I don't want to wreck an expensive chisel cutting mortises. Are LN suitable for this operation using a mallet? (I have ordered a Thor nylon hammer following the recommendation of Paul Sellers). Or would the PM-V11 be a better choice for this? I may do as Woodguy suggests and get LN for intricate/less aggressive work and something cheaper but still reasonably hard for heavy duty chopping.

As a side note, do you guys use waterstones for sharpening or something quicker like a Tormek or Worksharp?

 

[Kev]

Thanks for all the latest replies, you are all helping me a lot in my decision making. I sharpened up a blue handled stanley (6 years old vintage) and it dulled very quickly when I used it to cut a mortise. After this experience I don't want a soft chisel. On the other hand I don't want to wreck an expensive chisel cutting mortises. Are LN suitable for this operation using a mallet? (I have ordered a Thor nylon hammer following the recommendation of Paul Sellers). Or would the PM-V11 be a better choice for this? I may do as Woodguy suggests and get LN for intricate/less aggressive work and something cheaper but still reasonably hard for heavy duty chopping.

As a side note, do you guys use waterstones for sharpening or something quicker like a Tormek or Worksharp?

I have a Tormek. "Quicker" is probably not a good thing to call the Tormek, but it does sharpen a lot of things well. If you get some good chisels it's worth becoming proficient with waterstones (practice on something you don't love too much).

I wouldn't use a worksharp on anything very expensive personally.

 

[jmbfestool]

Thanks for all the latest replies, you are all helping me a lot in my decision making. I sharpened up a blue handled stanley (6 years old vintage) and it dulled very quickly when I used it to cut a mortise. After this experience I don't want a soft chisel. On the other hand I don't want to wreck an expensive chisel cutting mortises. Are LN suitable for this operation using a mallet? (I have ordered a Thor nylon hammer following the recommendation of Paul Sellers). Or would the PM-V11 be a better choice for this? I may do as Woodguy suggests and get LN for intricate/less aggressive work and something cheaper but still reasonably hard for heavy duty chopping.

As a side note, do you guys use waterstones for sharpening or something quicker like a Tormek or Worksharp?

Yeah I would shy away from soft metal chisels and hard metal chisels that's my experiences ur best of with inbetween hardness.   If you go for one of the extremes all does it do your head in lol that's what I have learnt lol.

I use diamond stones as they sharpen blades on the job. quicker than stones plus they stay flat.

I use a tormek t7 to grind them back down and sharpen them also.